


Depth

by CuriousThimble



Series: Birds of A Feather [6]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Darkspawn, Deep Roads, F/M, Romance, Slow Romance, Sweet Zevran Arainai, antivan crow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 19:51:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19708261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuriousThimble/pseuds/CuriousThimble
Summary: Camped in the Deep Roads, Tabris examines her relationship with Zevran and comes face-to-face with the fact that he still thinks himself worthless.





	Depth

Something changes between them in the Deep Roads. Tabris doesn’t know if it’s the constant fighting and injury or the privacy of their party reduced being by half, but she  _ does _ sense something changing between them. The night before they left, she and Alistair had argued over and over again about it, but she had won out in the end- she, Zevran, Morrigan, and Oghren had left the next morning.

_ Why are you so insistent, Tabris? _ He had demanded, furious that she meant to leave him behind. His anger had melted away when she looked up at him and very calmly gave him an answer.

_ You’re too important, Alistair- you’re going to be king! Out of everyone, the four of us will be the least missed if we don’t come back. _

He’d stopped arguing then, and begrudgingly agreed to her plan: she would take her team into the Deep Roads to search for Branka, and if she didn’t come back, he could bring the rest as a search party. Either way, one of the Grey Wardens had to get the dwarves to honor the treaty.

Zevran sighs in his sleep, his grip on her waist tightening. After drawing straws, he had gotten the lucky one without a watch but had insisted on sitting up through the second watch with her. Tabris smiles, thinking of how he had yawned and laid his head in her lap before completely passing out and wrapping an arm around her. 

She brushes her fingers over his hair, smiling softly.  _ Yes, something has changed indeed, _ she thinks. Not the sex- that was still as passionate and carefree as when it first began- but something...else. A small kiss on the top of her head when they pause to rest. Moving his bedroll closer and closer until they’re sleeping side-by-side. Running into her tent and holding the heavy mass of braids off her neck when she screams in her sleep; knowing how she's haunted by horrific dreams of the archdemon and reminding her in a gentle tone that she was safe and with him. There was a sweeter taste to their relationship, some new depth that went beyond simple physical enjoyment.

Tabris shudders, pushing away the small hope that begins to bloom in her chest.  _ He is nothing like Nelaros, _ she reminds herself harshly.  _ That’s not what we have, or what Zevran wants. Nelaros was a promise that can’t ever be fulfilled now. Zevran is here and alive and we don’t make promises or have hopes for our future. This will end as easily as it began some day. _

_ So why am I afraid to lose him down here? _

The niche they camped in was barely big enough for them to lay their bedrolls out side-by-side, but it was easily defended with the fire placed directly at the entrance. It also kept the cold of the stone tunnels at bay, but the warmth made her sleepy. Yawning, she glanced at the magical hourglass Morrigan had conjured, waiting for her chance to wake the mage and get some more sleep herself.

Zevran jolts himself awake, sitting up and clutching his chest, his eyes wild and afraid. “ _ Amora!” _ he gasps. “No!”

Tabris puts her hands on his cheeks, pushing his hair back and shushing him gently. “Hush, Zevran, I’m here,” she whispers, waiting for him to focus on her and not the nightmare in his eyes. “I’m here.”

Slowly he comes into the moment, closing his eyes and wrapping his hands around her wrists. “I dreamed…”

“I know.”

She can feel the shudder run through him. “It was horrible.”

“All of this is,” she agrees softly. “Go back to sleep,  _ Tesoro.” _

His eyes pop open in surprise. “ _ Tesoro? _ Where did you learn that?” 

She grins. “From you, of course. You mutter to yourself whenever you search a body and come up empty.”

“Do you know what it means?” he asks, stroking the new scar on her neck. Morrigan had been able to stop the blood gushing and heal the wound, but the darkspawn’s poisoned blade would always leave a reminder of her time in the Deep Roads.

“Not really,” she admits. “But I like how it sounds.”

Zevran shakes his head and pulls her into his arms, breathing deeply. “You are a remarkable woman,” he chuckles. “It means ‘treasure,’  _ amora.” _

She smiles, breathing in the tang of sweat and leather. “Then it’s perfect, isn’t it?”

Zevran pulls away, holding her at arm’s length. “Is it, Kallian?” he asks seriously. “Do you see a treasure when you look at me?”

_ He really does think he’s worthless, _ she thinks sadly, heart breaking for him.  _ I’ve been trying not to fall in love with him, and all this time…shit. _ “Yes,  _ Tesoro, _ ” she whispers, holding his gaze. “I do.” _I'm going to have to keep this to myself. He's said several times that he doesn't want romance or love or anything even like that._

He opens his mouth to speak, but a rustle of cloth tells her Morrigan is waking. “Zevran, you got the privilege of a full night’s sleep and waste it on pillow talk?" the witch grumbles. "I am ashamed _for_ you.”

“I woke only for the pleasure of taking my  _ amora _ back to bed,” he says lightly, giving Morrigan a charming grin.

“Well do so-  _ quietly- _ and be done with it,” Morrigan tells him, waving a hand to their bedrolls.

“As you wish, sweet Morrigan,” he chirps and jumps to his feet. “Come, Tabris.”

Moments later, he rolls over and wraps his arms around her possessively. “Kallian?” he whispers.

“Mm?” she murmurs, asleep almost as soon as her boots were off. 

“I am yours.”

“Mm.”


End file.
